The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-10-26

| has practically written over the outside door
of many church: No admittance." And
If the stranger enters he finds practically
written over the second door: No Admit
tance;" and if he goes in. over all the pew
doors seems written: mo Admittance, while
the minister stands in the pulpit, hammerlng
out his little nceties of belief, pounding out
the techncalities Of religion, making pins:
In the most practical commonsense way, and
laying aside the non-essentials and the hard
definitions Of religion, go out on the Cod
given mission, telling the people what they
need and when and how they can get it..
! Comparatively little effort has as yet been
made to save that large class Of persons in
our midst called skeptics, and he who goes to
work here will not be building upon another
mans foundation. There is great multi
tude of them. They are afraid of us and our
churches, for the reason we don't know how
! to treat them One of this class met Christ
! and hear with what tenderness, and pathoS,
and beauty, and success Christ dealt with
| him: ''Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with Ill thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
This is the first commandment, and the sec
ond is like to this namely, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. There is nc no
other commandment greater than this
! for there is one God, and to love
him with all the heart, and all
| the understanding, and all the soul, and all
the strength is more than whole burnt offer
ings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw
that he answered discreetly, he said unto
| him: "Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God" So skeptic was saved in one In
! terview. But few Christian people treat the
skeptic In that way. Instead of taking hold
! of him with the gentle hand Of love, we are
apt to take him with the iron pincers OF &C.
clesiasticism: :,
You would not be so rough on that man if
| you knew by what process he had lost his
| faith in Christianity. have known men
houses where religion was overdone. Sun
| day was the most awful day of the week.
They had religion driven into them with a
! trip hammer They were Surfeited with
prayer meetings They were stuffed and
choked with catechisms. They were often
told they were the worst boys the parents
| ever knew because they liked to ride down
hill better than to read Bunyan's 'tPilgrim's
| Progress" Whenever father and mother
talked Of religion they drew down the corners
of their mouth and rolled up their eyes. If
any one thing will send boy or girl to de-
struction sooner than another that is it. If |
had had such a father and mother fear l
should have been an infidel.
Others were tripped up of skepticism from
being grievously wronged by some man who
professed to be a Christian. They had
partner in business who turned out to be a
first-class scoundrel, though professed
| Christian. Twenty years ago they had lost
| all faith by what happened in an oil company
which was formed amid the petroleum e1-
element. The company owned no land, or
if they did, there was no sign Of oil produced.
| But the President Of the company was
Presbyterian elder, and the Treasurer was an
md fN~t n
Methodist class leader, and the other direc-
tors prominent members Of Baptist and Con-
gregational churches. Circulars were gotten
out telling what fabulous prospects opened be-
fore this company. Innocent men and
women who had a little money to
invest, and that little their all, said: II don't
know anything about this company, but so
many good men are at the head of it that it
| must be excellent, and taking stock in it
almost as good as joining the church" So
they bought the stock, and perhaps received
one dividend so as to keep them still, but
after while they found that the company
had reorganzed and had different presl-
dent, and different treasurer, and different
directors. 1t was said, by way Of explana-
ton, that other engagements or i'll health
had caused the former officers Of the company,
with many regrets to resign. And all that
the subscribers of that stock had to
show for their investment was beautl-
fully ornamented certificate. Sometimes
that man looking over his old papers
comes across that certificate, and it is
so suggestive that he vows he wants none OF
! the religion that the presidents and trustees
and directors of that oil company profesSed.
Of course their rejection of religion on such
grounds was unphlosophical and unwiSe. l
am told that one-third Of the United States
army deserts every year, and there are l2,OOO
court martial trials every year. Is that any
thing against the United States Government
! that swore them inl And if soldiers of Jesus
Christ desert, is that anything against the
Christianity which they swore to support and
defend2 How do you judge Of the currency
! of a countrya By a counterfeit bill! Oh,
| YOU must have patience with those who have
been swndled by religious pretenders. Live
in the presence Of others q frank, honest,
earnest Christian life, that they may be at
tracted to the same Saviour upon whom your
hopes depend.
Remember skepticism always has some rea-
son, good or bad, for existing Goethe's ire
| ligion started when the news came to Ger
many Of the earthquake at Lisbon, Nov.
l, IT'S That 10000 people should have per-
ished in that earthquake and in the after
rising Of the Tagus river SO stirred his sym
pathies that be threw up his belief IN the
goodness of God.
Others have gone into skepticism from
natural persistence in asking the reason why.
They have been fearfully stabbed OF the in
terrogation point There are so many things
they cannot get explained. They cannot
understand the Trinity, or how God
can be sovereign, and yet man a
free agent. Neither can I. They say:
81 don't understand why good God
should have let sin come into the world. "
cHild hsE started tex in LIFE With such disadvan lisa @
tages while others have oil physical and
mental equipment |" cannot tell. They go
! out of church on Easter morning and say
"That doctrine of the resurrection confounded
me-" So it is to me a mystery beyond un-
ravement. understand all the processes by
which men get into the dark. / know them
! all. have travelled with burning feet their
] blistered way The first word that children
learn to utter is generally papa or mamma.
| think the first word l ever uttered was
"Why" know what it is to have hum
| dred midnights pour their darkness into
one hour. Such men are not to be
scoffed at, but helped. Turn your back upon
q drowning man when you have ths rope
with which to pull him ashore, and let that
woman in the third story of house perish in
the flames v hen you have a ladder with
which to help her out and help her down,
rather than turn your back scofhngly on
skeptic whose soul is in more peril than the
bodies Of those other endangered ones posi-
bly, can be. Oh, skepticism is a dark land.
There are men in this house who would give
q thousand worlds, If they possessed them,
to get back to the placid faith of their fathers
and mothers, and it is our place to help them,
and we may help them, never through their
heads, but always through their hearts.
These skeptics, when brought to Jesus, will be
nightly atfected-far more so than those